Belt, Road natural fit for Panama

Xi says relations thriving since diplomatic ties established

China and Panama are natural cooperative partners for the joint building of the Belt and Road, and the two nations should step up their alignment in development strategies to better benefit the two peoples, President Xi Jinping said.

He made the remark in a signed article published by Panamanian newspaper La Estrella de Panama on Friday.

Xi said bilateral cooperation in various areas has sprung up and thrived since the two sides established diplomatic ties in June of last year.

He said his upcoming visit to Panama will be his first to the nation as well as the first by a Chinese head of state.

Xi said the decision that he and Panamanian President Juan Carlos Varela made to establish diplomatic ties will bring benefits to generations to come, and is also a demonstration of the general trend and the will of the people.

Xi said friendly exchanges between the two peoples have a history of more than 160 years, and the Chinese people stood in solidarity with the Panamanian people's demands for sovereignty over the Panama Canal in the 1960s.

Panama was the first country in the Latin American and Caribbean region to have signed a memorandum of understanding of Belt and Road cooperation, which took place during Varela's visit to China last year.

China and Panama should be sincere partners of equality and mutual trust, and always provide each other understanding and support over respective core interests and major concerns, thus laying a solid political foundation for the long-term healthy development of bilateral relations, Xi said.

The two sides should also be development partners through weal and woe, he said, adding that they should work together to build a new type of international relations, push forward the building of a community with a shared future for mankind and promote the development of an open world economy.

Xi also called on the two nations to use the joint building of the Belt and Road to guide bilateral cooperation and to continue to deepen cooperation in key areas so that early achievements can be gleaned from pragmatic cooperation.

The two nations should also become close partners through exchanges and give play to the bonds of the 280,000 Panamanians of Chinese descent so that bilateral friendship will have greater support among the people, he said.

Xi said that the two peoples are all highly enterprising, innovative and daring in chasing their dreams. The two nations should seize opportunities to enable their ties to catch up so that bilateral cooperation can make steady steps forward.